Keith Pompey

Inquirer Staff Writer

While the 76ers got a two-time all-star center in the mega-trade that brought them Andrew Bynum, the prevailing wisdom is that while he’s probably the best center to don a Sixers uniform since the days of Moses Malone, Bynum is still considered by most to be the second-best center behind Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard.

However, new teammate Dorell Wright doesn’t necessarily agree. Having faced Bynum, acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers, multiple times when he and Wright played in the Pacific Division, Wright, who spent his last two seasons with the Golden State Warriors, stated unequivocally that Bynum is the league’s best big man.

“He’s going to need two defenders to stop him; I would say he’s the best big man in the NBA right now, hands down,” Wright, speaking at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, said. “He’s a guy that can give you baskets with his back to the basket; a guy who makes free throws at 7-feet. You’ve just got to respect him.”

At that point I interjected, asking him if he calls Bynum the best big man in the league because they are now on the same team. Or could it be because Howard is on the mend from back surgery?

“No way, I’d say it any day. It’s because I know he can put his back to the basket and give us a basket and request a double team and make free throws,” Wright continued. “It’s his all-around game. Hopefully he can stay healthy and we can ride, he can put us on his back and he can take us as far as we can go.”

Wright seemed to enjoy the little back and forth. He even turned the tables on me, asking me whom I thought was the best big man in the game.